Evanescence
Evanescence is an American rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. After recording independent albums, the band released their first full-length album, Fallen, on Wind-up Records in 2003. Fallen sold more than 17 million copies worldwide and helped the band win two Grammy Awards and seven nominations, as well as scoring No. 6 in CBS's "Top Bestselling Albums of the Last 10 Years" (2008). A year later, Evanescence released their first live album, Anywhere but Home, which sold more than one million copies worldwide. In 2006, the band released their second studio album, The Open Door, which sold more than five million copies. The line-up of the group has changed several times: David Hodges leaving in 2002, co-founder Moody left in 2003 (mid-tour), bassist Will Boyd in 2006, followed by guitarist John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray in 2007. The last two changes led to a hiatus, with temporary band members contributing to tour performances. Billboard ranked Evanescence No. 71 on the Best Artists of the Decade chart. Announced in June 2009, the newest line-up of the band eventually returned with Evanescence, their self-titled third studio album, released on October 11, 2011. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 127,000 copies in sales. The album also debuted at No. 1 on four other different Billboard charts; the Rock Albums, Digital Albums, Alternative Albums, and the Hard Rock Albums charts. The first single, "What You Want", was released on August 9, 2011. The second single, "My Heart Is Broken", was sent to radio stations in October 31, 2011. The band spent 2012 on tour in promotion of their new album with other bands including The Pretty Reckless and Fair to Midland. Style and Influences Critics vary in terming Evanescence a rock or metal band, but most identify them as some form of gothic band: publications such as The New York Times, Rough Guides, Rolling Stone and Blender have identified Evanescence as a gothic metal act, while other sources such as NME, MusicMight, IGN, PopMatters and Spin have termed them gothic rock. They have been compared to a variety of bands from differing genres, such as nu metal ensembles like P.O.D. and Linkin Park, gothic metal groups like Lacuna Coil, and symphonic metal acts like Nightwish and Within Temptation. David Browne of Blender offers an elaborate description of the band's music as "goth Christian nü-metal with a twist of melancholic Enya." Adrien Begrand of Popmatters describes Evanescence as utilising "nu-metal riffage". Adrian Jackson of My Dying Bride stated that he feels Evanescence is doing something similar to his own gothic metal group, only in a more commercial direction. Other genres and influences used to describe the band's sound include industrial, alternative metal, progressive metal, alternative rock, hard rock, electronica, post-grunge, chamber pop, and heavy metal. The band's official website classed their musical genre simply as "rock". Evanescence was originally promoted in Christian stores. Later, the band made it clear they did not want to be considered part of the Christian rock genre, like fellow Wind-up Records artists Creed.Terry Hemmings, CEO of Christian music distributor Provident, expressed puzzlement at the band's about-face, saying, "They clearly understood the album would be sold in these (Christian music) channels." After many Christian stores began to remove the band's music from their shelves, Wind-up Records chairman Alan Meltzer then issued a press release in April 2003 requesting formally that they do this. In 2006, Amy Lee told Billboard that she had opposed being identified as a "Christian band" from the beginning Personal Rating Many could categorize Evanescence as a rock band, but the twist in their songs and many more elements could easily cause them to fall into the Gothic Metal sub-genre. Amy's magical voice, the genius harmony in wich guitar, percussions and vocals flow are simply ethereal. 10/10.